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Chapter 37
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Kind, Kindness, and Discrimination
The Power of Books
Hardship and Humanity
Change and Modernization
Autonomy and Interdependence
Summary
Analysis
Cussy Mary lays on the Moffits’ bed in shock until the blowflies start to fly in the window, attracted by the smell of death. Cussy covers Angeline’s body, carries Honey out on the porch and sits there, rocking Honey and trying to figure out what to do. If she asks Pa for help, people might blame them, as Blues, for the deaths. She isn’t even sure anyone knows Angeline was pregnant, or even if anyone else was aware of their hardscrabble life on their tiny homestead. But she knows she must care for Honey and see Honey’s parents properly buried.
Despite the hardships of life, Cussy Mary is determined to not lose sight of her humanity or anyone else’s. That’s why she was willing to adopt Honey, and it’s why her next concern (after Honey’s safety) is to make sure that Angeline and even the tormented and hateful Mr. Moffit are buried with dignity. As elsewhere in the book, suffering has the power to bring out the best in human nature.
Themes
Cussy Mary carefully empties one of her saddlebags, lines it with her cushion, and places Honey inside. She tells Junia that they must carry Honey to safety, very gently, for Angeline’s sake. Then she points the mule towards Jackson Lovett’s place, praying that he’ll be home and willing to help. And with one of Angeline’s lullabies on Cussy’s lips, the three ride out of the yard.
Junia has been Cussy Mary’s protector since her short-lived marriage to Charlie Frazier. In a way, Junia has been a part of Cussy Mary’s family. It’s fitting, then, that she becomes Honey’s protector, too. And then Cussy and Junia turn for help to the one person besides Pa they trust unreservedly: Jackson.
Themes
